The study examined the Advancing Rural Computer Science (ARCS) program, a professional development initiative designed to improve elementary teachers' computer science (CS) content knowledge, pedagogical practices, and self-efficacy, with the goal of enhancing K-5 students' interest in and knowledge of CS. ARCS was funded through USED EIR…

Context: With the introduction of Computer Science (CS) into curricula worldwide, teachers' adoption of CS pedagogical content is essential to ensure the long-term success of reform initiatives. Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programs play a key role in this process. Unfortunately, adoption is seldom evaluated in CS-CPDs or CPDs in…

Developing student interest is critical to supporting student learning in computer science. Research indicates that student interest is a key predictor of persistence and achievement. While there is a growing body of work on developing computing identities for diverse students, little research focuses on early exposure to develop multilingual…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to understand how K-8 teachers in Nevada describe computational concepts, practices, and perspectives preparation in making them ready to teach computer science. Brennan and Resnick's computational thinking served as the theoretical framework for this study. Four research questions guided this…

Background and Context: Educators and researchers are interested in building the computational thinking (CT) skills of K-12 students. However, the availability of language-agnostic assessments for lower elementary graders remains limited. Objective: We present preliminary insights into the reliability and validity of the Computational Thinking…

Like much of the world, the United States is rapidly implementing the teaching of computer science into both primary and secondary school curricula. Uncovering what challenges U.S. schools in general--and rural U.S. schools in the unique environment of more mountainous regions of the U.S. in particular--face in implementing new curricula is not…

This study set out to answer research questions about the design of CPR2, the implementation of CPR2 in middle school classrooms, and the potential of CPR2 to improve both students' and teachers' abilities to engage in mathematical generalization. This report examines measures the extent to which CPR2 activities improved teachers' and students'…

The purpose of this research project was to design, deliver, and informally assess the content and methodology of an introductory online course for the educators of Deaf and Hard of Hearing students (N=20) that focused on the block-based coding language, Scratch. Prior work by The Playful Learning Lab examined various STEM resources and their…

This study explored correlations between Virginia K-8 teachers' confidence in computer science (CS) teaching and their confidence in technology teaching using a quantitative, nonexperimental, explanatory research design. Two constructs of the Teacher Efficacy and Attitudes Toward STEM Survey (Friday Institute for Educational Innovation, 2012b)…

The Innovative STEM--Computer Science and Engineering Design (STEM CSED) project (Award #: U411C190169), funded by an Early-Phase Education Innovation and Research (EIR) grant, sought to strengthen math achievement and foster positive attitudes toward STEM and computer science among students in Waukegan Community Unit School District #60, a large,…

Expansive Framing (EF) is a theory and an instructional technique to facilitate connections between content and contexts. We employed EF as an approach to create a series of integrated mathematics and computer science (CS) lessons, using digital technology as a tool to leverage shared mathematical and computational ideas. We used deductive…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the implementation and impact of the Pack program. The Pack was developed by the New York Hall of Science (NYSCI) and includes a digital game and set of curricular and professional development resources that aim to support computational thinking teaching and learning in middle school science and computer…

Elementary school teachers are increasingly being asked to teach computer science (CS)--a subject area with which they often have little familiarity. To address this gap, teacher professional development (PD) is a common approach for helping teachers become familiar with CS content. This paper describes a collaborative PD designed to accompany a…

In recent years, the integration of STEM disciplines has been increasingly advocated. It is crucial to prepare and support teachers for integrated STEM education. However, few studies in the literature explore collaborating with teachers from different disciplines. This study investigates the effect of the professional development (PD) program…

With the inclusion of the Information Technology and Software course in elementary and middle school curricula in Turkey, the Ministry of National Education has started to offer Technology Use and Coding courses. In this study, opinions of 12 instructors who taught Technology Use and Coding courses were consulted. The study aimed to determine the…